5¢ Sammiches Back In the Day
My mom has taught me most of what I know, when it comes to gardening. Toss dill seeds out in the fall. Garlic cloves planted in september. Beans should be planted down to the first knuckle in one's finger. That sort of stuff.
But fundamentally, growing things is really easy. Life wants to happen. If you keep it moist and keep it in contact with soil, and keep it at a temperature that it likes, then it will probably start to grow. I.e., plant the seed, water it enough so that it soaks and cracks open, and keep it in contact with nutrients at a warm enough temp to live. Pretty simple, right?
For whatever reason, most of my friends can't grok that. "It's simple," I say. "Press the radish seed into the soil. Cover it. Press soil down on top of it. Water enough to keep it moist but not soaking. Repeat." Seriously, is that hard? No, it's not. But somehow I am the one with the "green thumb."
Okay, granted, radishes are easy. But every climate has its easy plants. Find'em. Grow'em. Enjoy. Radishes like cool. So does spinach, lettuce, and most every green. Peppers and their kind like warmth. Corn is a freak that shouldn't be grown. Tomatoes are just weird and bitchy, and you're going to punish yourself if you try. Carrots are nifty. Collards make me laugh. And stinging nettles make me smile.
I'm going to have WAY too many red onions this year, if things work out. If you're within driving range in august, then I can hook you up!
Wild blueberries next to a Washington trail
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Sounds like your approach to the garden is the same as your approach to leadership - a firm hand, doing your research, monitoring the state and meeting their needs without doing the work for them!
ReplyDeleteI love gardening. With my departure in 5 months, I'll be very sad to lose my houseplants, which have grown so much under my care!
I think the reason why most people aren't "green thumbs" is because they're unwilling to take on the *energy* of leadership. They go through the motions, but without the energy behind it, it's always going to be a fail.
DG, you pretty much rock. Yes, you're right. Gardening is really like leading in many ways. You can't just make an initial effort and then stop, and you have to make hard calls and get rid of the ones that are not performing. And through it all, your focus is on the goal. The focus is on THEM.
ReplyDeleteSpooky that you said corn is a freak and shouldn't be grown.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking today about corn syrup (blech) corn chips (yuk) and all the crap things that make us fat from what would otherwise be a mildly entertaining vegetable...or whatever it is.
Uh, sorry Martian. Bit of an anti-corn-rant there.
My best friend when I was eight through twelve, Paul Vreugdenhil, grew radishes. We used them to throw at passing cars.
Oh. Yeah. I see your rant, Wombat, and I raise you!
ReplyDeleteTurns out that it's a grass. Weird, huh? Also turns out that it can't germinate without humans to peel the husk and separate the kernels. If you throw an unpeeled corncob on the ground, the best that it can do is send up a few plants' primary leaves, which then die because they need to be thinned. And crows more or less destroy the cobs by exposing them so weather, they don't help scatter seeds to propogate it. Corn can't survive without us. It has domesticated humans -- instead of being a struggling rare plant, it thrives on acre after acre, courtesy of us.
And yeah, just think of what we do with it. We break it down into components in labs, and then rearrange those components into energy dense processed foods free of any real nutrition. All those crazy ingredients like Xanthan Gum on the labels are really just processed corn. And then when we eat that crud, our bodies remain hungry because they need nutritious, whole foods, not just pure energy. So what do we do? Eat more of the processed food to satisfy the pangs. Is it any wonder that westerners are obese and unhealthy?
And let's not even really talk about how our taxes are used to subsidize farmers who grow corn. And of course, that corn isn't sold locally, it's shipped to giant industrial chemical factories to be turned into components that are in turn shipped elsewhere to be turned into Spicy Mexican Doritos (or whatever) that are again shipped to your grocery store, or else it is fed to animals in enormous feedlots that are slaughtered in factories and shipped thousands of miles away. It's a mess. All that energy and expense to prepare what is a fundamentally unhealthy lifestyle. It's revolting.
My veggies and greens come from one of two places now: my back yard, or my farmer's market. And the latter only from farms that I've visited, know are local, and know practice sustainable techniques.
You might enjoy "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. It's a fascinating read, and will probably turn you off corn (or at least its processed derivatives) forever....
God, I feel queasy now. Especially after your explanation of the Truth about Corn.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I will order Pollan's book, I know you guys are fans. (How's the carpark, or, as people continually tell me, the 'parking lot' going?)
I'm enthusiastic about your making your own nutrition, Mr M, it's just grand. Just like the race to the cheapest was the business mantra for much of our lives, I hope the race to the best is something we can work at. In all things.
Funny thing; I can smell the start of it. Is that your garlic gently roasting?